DAYS 11 AND 12

Day 11. We broke camp and headed for Skagway around 10 a.m. The trip down from over a mile elevation to sea level was spectacular. Snow covered mountain peaks that reached for the sky, the world's smallest desert at Carcross, a road that hugged the mountainside much of the time, snowpack everywhere as winter is reluctant to release its grip to spring. Skagway is nestled on a fjord in a mountain valley. It has 800 residents but at any given time might have as many as 10,000 trourists coming ashore from up to five cruise ships. Tourism is geared to the well heeled as there are more jewelry shops than any other in town. The day was clear, the sun warm, and we have a wonderful campsite just off downtown.

Mileage for the day: 128 miles
Mileage for the trip: 3,305 miles

Day 12. We woke up today to completely changed weather. We closed our eyes last night to clear skies and moderate temperatures. We woke to overcast skies, a low cloud deck, and as the day progressed, a stiffening north wind. The tent could be cold tonight! After some morning shopping, we took the White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad up the While Pass to Frazer. By the time we reached the summit the snow was over 10 feet high and it looked like the middle of winter. The tour guide said all the snow would be gone in a couple of weeks which is hard to imagine. It was a breaktaking ride and quite an engineering feat. The topper was that we were able to book our rail trip with one of the two historic steam engines that they still use. (Most--20--of the engines are diesel.) It was like a trip back in history to the time of the gold rush of 1898. The line actually was not completed until 1900, but it secured Skayway's future while Dyea and the Chilcoot Trail became a ghost town and trail. Today the rail line runs five months a year when cruise ships dock. The rest of the time it is dormant, as I'm sure the town of Skagway is as well. We plan to eat at the Red Onion Bar for supper, which was a notorious brothel during the gold stampede (but is totally toned down now!). Tomorrow we head back to Whitehorse and Haines Junction. Originally we wanted to take the ferry across the bay to Haines, but unfortunately the ferry doesn't run on Saturday, and not until late in the evening ono Sunday. Hopefully we'll drive out of this cold weather and back into spring. We plan to be in Fairbanks next Wednesday.